caa a22 4500 386349657 CHVBK 20180307111825.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e198906 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0047404500013464 doi S0047404500013464 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0047404500013464 Politeness theory and Shakespeare's four major tragedies [Elektronische Daten] Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson (1987) have proposed that power (P), distance (D), and the ranked extremity (R) of a face-threatening act are the universal determinants of politeness levels in dyadic discourse. This claim is tested here for Shakespeare's use of Early Modern English in Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello. The tragedies are used because: (1) dramatic texts provide the best information on colloquial speech of the period; (2) the psychological soliloquies in the tragedies provide the access to inner life that is necessary for a proper test of politeness theory; and (3) the tragedies represent the full range of society in a period of high relevance to politeness theory. The four plays are systematically searched for pairs of minimally contrasting dyads where the dimensions of contrast are power (P), distance (D), and intrinsic extremity (R). Whenever such a pair is found, there are two speeches to be scored for politeness and a prediction from theory as to which should be more polite. The results for P and for R are those predicted by theory, but the results for D are not. The two components of D, interactive closeness and affect, are not closely associated in the plays. Affect strongly influences politeness (increased liking increases politeness and decreased liking decreases politeness); interactive closeness has little or no effect on politeness. The uses of politeness for the delineation of character in the tragedies are illustrated. (Politeness theory, speech act theory, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, theory of literature, Shakespeare studies) Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989 Brown Roger Department of Psychology, Harvard University Gilman Albert Department of English, Boston University Language in Society Cambridge University Press 18/2(1989-06), 159-212 0047-4045 18:2<159 1989 18 LSY https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500013464 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500013464 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Brown Roger Department of Psychology, Harvard University NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Gilman Albert Department of English, Boston University NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Language in Society Cambridge University Press 18/2(1989-06), 159-212 0047-4045 18:2<159 1989 18 LSY CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge